Population growth in drylands

Infographic | 31-07-2017

Drylands populations are projected to increase considerably by 2050

Human populations in drylands are projected to increase by 40% to 50%, from 2.7 billion in 2010 to around 4.0 billion by 2050. This is a much more rapid increase than the 25% in non-drylands. South Asia is projected to see the largest increase in number of people living in drylands, over 500 million, and Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to see its dryland population almost doubling.

In this scenario, most of this change is driven by population growth in existing drylands and not as much by drylands expanding due to climate change.

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